Simulations of structural behaviour of fibre-reinforced polymer bridge deck under thermal effects

Finite Element Method (FEM) has been employed to study the structural behaviour of two different Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bridge deck systems under thermal effects. Bridge system I is a hybrid FRP-concrete bridge superstructure, while bridge system II is an all FRP bridge deck on steel girder. Because the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) of the FRP is higher than that of concrete, this study investigated the behaviour of bridge system I under different climatic conditions. This study describes the behaviour of bridge system II subjected to thermal loading from a truck fire incident combined with mechanical loading from the commercial trucks. Furthermore, fully coupled thermal-stress analyses were performed using FEM to determine the fire resistance limit. The paper illustrated that the thermal response of bridge system I would be significant under severe climatic conditions. Moreover, the thermal simulations showed that bridge system II is highly sensitive to the effect of elevated temperatures.